Minoru Yasui

By Kerry S. Hada and Andrew S. Hamano

            Minoru Yasui, the third son of Masuo and Shidzuyo Yasui, was born on October 19, 1916, in Hood River, Oregon.  He attended school in Hood River and graduated valedictorian from high school in 1933.  He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1937 with Phi Beta Kappa honors.  Min, as he liked to be called, received his law degree with honors from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1939 and became the first Japanese-American graduate of that institution.  He was admitted to practice law in Oregon in that same year, but was unable to find employment with any of the established law firms in Oregon.  In 1940, Min accepted a position as a Consular attaché for the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago.  He wrote letters and speeches and performed other work requiring the use of English.

            Immediately following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941, Min resigned his position with the Consulate and returned to Oregon, where he volunteered for the U.S. Army.  Min had been commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves after graduating from the University of Oregon, where he had been a ROTC cadet.  He received orders to report to Fort Vancouver in Washington, but upon reporting was told that his services would not be accepted because of his ancestry.

            Returning to Oregon after his rejection by the U.S. Army, Min opened a law practice in Portland to help those members in the community of Japanese descent during the chaotic and turbulent times immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  At the time, Min was the only practicing attorney of Japanese ancestry in Oregon.  He was inundated with requests for legal assistance from the Japanese-American community.